Professional services firm EY has entered into an agreement to acquire one of Oceania’s leading identity and access management (IAM) providers, Melbourne- based Open Windows Australia Pty Ltd.
The acquisition strengthens EY’s cyber-security advisory capability and positions EY to offer an integrated suite of cyber advisory services across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, from strategy through to the implementation expertise that Open Windows brings.
Open Windows’ expertise, methodologies and tools will form the basis of a new Asia-Pacific regional IAM advisory platform within EY, reinforcing its ability to assess, design, build and operate solutions to protect the region’s critical infrastructure and systems against cyber threats.
Richard Watson, Lead Partner Cyber APAC, EY, said the need to protect infrastructure such as financial systems, power grids, telecommunication lines, transportation, commerce and health care systems from cyber-threats had never been more important.
“Connected infrastructure, growing networks and internet-enabled devices mean our communities are increasingly vulnerable to risk of attack from sophisticated cyber criminals, who often use weak identity management controls to compromise systems,” Mr Watson said.
“With an end-to-end cyber advisory and implementation capability EY is now better placed than ever to help clients protect critical systems,” he added.
Commenting on the acquisition, Paul Clark, Asia-Pacific Advisory Managing Partner, EY said: “Open Windows gives us the foundation for creating a hub for our identity management capability across APAC and we will be investing in people and assets to build on this regional capability. Our clients will benefit from access to integrated identity management advisory expertise, rather than having to engage a multitude of suppliers.”
Positioned for growth
The acquired firm will become the central platform for a new regional Identity Management advisory practice for EY, to be led by Open Windows CEO, Simon Adler. The new platform will provide ‘Identity-as-a-Service’ (IDaaS) in addition to EY’s existing identity governance capability.
Watson said maintaining the Open Windows platform as a discrete platform within EY would help drive innovation, delivery quality and client service in IAM.
“This central IAM platform complements our offshore capability and we see it is as a key point of differentiation from competitors who in the main offer offshore identity work only, without the implementation advisory.”
Open Windows CEO, Simon Adler, said: “By joining EY clients gain access to Open Windows already recognised IAM delivery capability, now backed by an extremely well-resourced, large- scale vehicle for delivering IAM services as part of an integrated cyber practice. It puts us on enterprise footing matching that of enterprise clients, which opens up significant new opportunities for the team and our clients.”